 |
||
 |
        |
 |
 |
||
| MP3 Radio | Website News Briefs: | |||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
 |
 |
1. Alert Soldiers at Egyptian Border Foil Mega-Bomb Attack
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Alert soldiers Monday night foiled a massive bomb attack on Israelis by discovering a huge bomb that terrorists were smuggling across the Egyptian border.
Bombs and weapons smuggled into the mostly barren southwestern Negev can easily be carried by terrorists to urban targets, with the city of Be’er Sheva being the closest.
The IDF said soldiers spotted the smuggling in progress and that during an attempt to arrest the terrorists, one of them threw a package, which was not found in the dark. Soldiers and police found it in the morning and discovered that it was a huge bomb that, if exploded in an urban area, could have caused mass casualties.
Sappers neutralized and detonated the bomb, and no one was injured. The IDF did not report any arrests, and the terrorists apparently escaped into Egypt.
“This additional incident again exposes the smuggling route on the western border that is exploited by terrorist organizations against Israeli civilians and soldiers,” military spokesmen said.
The IDF recently has beefed up patrols along the border and have added new unit to patrol in the southern Negev and Arava.
The government has ordered a speed-up ion construction of a fence that officials hope will significantly reduce smuggling of terrorists and weapons as well as drugs and African infiltrators seeking work in Israel.
Comment on this story
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Alert soldiers Monday night foiled a massive bomb attack on Israelis by discovering a huge bomb that terrorists were smuggling across the Egyptian border.
Bombs and weapons smuggled into the mostly barren southwestern Negev can easily be carried by terrorists to urban targets, with the city of Be’er Sheva being the closest.
The IDF said soldiers spotted the smuggling in progress and that during an attempt to arrest the terrorists, one of them threw a package, which was not found in the dark. Soldiers and police found it in the morning and discovered that it was a huge bomb that, if exploded in an urban area, could have caused mass casualties.
Sappers neutralized and detonated the bomb, and no one was injured. The IDF did not report any arrests, and the terrorists apparently escaped into Egypt.
“This additional incident again exposes the smuggling route on the western border that is exploited by terrorist organizations against Israeli civilians and soldiers,” military spokesmen said.
The IDF recently has beefed up patrols along the border and have added new unit to patrol in the southern Negev and Arava.
The government has ordered a speed-up ion construction of a fence that officials hope will significantly reduce smuggling of terrorists and weapons as well as drugs and African infiltrators seeking work in Israel.
More on this topic
-
Four IDF Officers: Once Together, Always Together -
IDF Arrests 12 in Ramallah and Hevron Overnight
-
IDF Teaches Hand-to-Hand Combat to Fight Terrorist Kidnappers
-
Relinquish Dual Citizenship to Serve in the IDF?
-
MKs, Officials, Decry Leftist Hevron Tour for Top IDF Officers
-
IDF Arrests 2 Hamas Leaders in Samaria
Comment on this story
2. Media Turn Hunger Striking Terrorist Spokesman into Victim
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Islamic Jihad spokesman Khader Adnan said Tuesday he is ending his 66-day hunger strike after worldwide sympathy pressured the Justice Ministry to decide to end his administrative detention two months from now.
Mainstream media have turned the terrorist leader into a victim and hero as he continued his hunger strike while under care in an Israeli hospital. The Islamic Jihad has been outlawed by the United States as a terror group.
Eleven people were hurt Tuesday in a protest outside his prison cell near Jerusalem while he lay in his bed in Ziv Hospital, in Tzfat in northern Israel.
Israeli security forces arrested Khader Adnan, a resident of Jenin, in December, for terrorist activities. He had appealed to the High Court to be freed but withdrew the petition after the Justice Ministry said it would not extend his administration detention.
Hamas had warned it will “use all legitimate means for freeing prisoners” and asked Egypt to intervene on Adnan’s behalf.
Adnan’s wife, her face completely covered by a veil except for her eyes, has been interviewed and photographed by media, who recorded her as saying that doctors told her husband he could suffer a heart attack at any time.
Media and pro-Arab groups are having a field day with the hunger strike although the policy of administrative detention has gone unnoticed when applied to Jews, many of whom were youths and were held without access to lawyers and families for weeks and even months.
Foreign media have compared the terrorist spokesman to former Irish IRA prisoner Bobby Sands and have made Adnan a cause célèbre to protest Israel’s policy of administrative detention, which is carried out against Jews, usually nationalists, as well as Arabs.
United Nations human rights official Richard Falk, who has a long record of attacking Israel, wrote on Al Jazeera that Adnan was subjected to “inhumane and degrading treatment that is totally unlawful and morally inexcusable.”
He and other pro-Arab public figures went so far as to complain that Israel is hypocritical by not showing sympathy for Adnan while having campaigned to secure the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, held captive by Hamas terrorists for more than five years and without Red Cross or family communication.
Shalit was released last year in exchange for more than 1,000 terrorists and security prisoners in Israel jails, many of them serving multiple life sentences for murder. Several of them already have been re-arrested for continuing terrorist activity.
Comment on this story
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
Islamic Jihad spokesman Khader Adnan said Tuesday he is ending his 66-day hunger strike after worldwide sympathy pressured the Justice Ministry to decide to end his administrative detention two months from now.
Mainstream media have turned the terrorist leader into a victim and hero as he continued his hunger strike while under care in an Israeli hospital. The Islamic Jihad has been outlawed by the United States as a terror group.
Eleven people were hurt Tuesday in a protest outside his prison cell near Jerusalem while he lay in his bed in Ziv Hospital, in Tzfat in northern Israel.
Israeli security forces arrested Khader Adnan, a resident of Jenin, in December, for terrorist activities. He had appealed to the High Court to be freed but withdrew the petition after the Justice Ministry said it would not extend his administration detention.
Hamas had warned it will “use all legitimate means for freeing prisoners” and asked Egypt to intervene on Adnan’s behalf.
Adnan’s wife, her face completely covered by a veil except for her eyes, has been interviewed and photographed by media, who recorded her as saying that doctors told her husband he could suffer a heart attack at any time.
Media and pro-Arab groups are having a field day with the hunger strike although the policy of administrative detention has gone unnoticed when applied to Jews, many of whom were youths and were held without access to lawyers and families for weeks and even months.
Foreign media have compared the terrorist spokesman to former Irish IRA prisoner Bobby Sands and have made Adnan a cause célèbre to protest Israel’s policy of administrative detention, which is carried out against Jews, usually nationalists, as well as Arabs.
United Nations human rights official Richard Falk, who has a long record of attacking Israel, wrote on Al Jazeera that Adnan was subjected to “inhumane and degrading treatment that is totally unlawful and morally inexcusable.”
He and other pro-Arab public figures went so far as to complain that Israel is hypocritical by not showing sympathy for Adnan while having campaigned to secure the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit, held captive by Hamas terrorists for more than five years and without Red Cross or family communication.
Shalit was released last year in exchange for more than 1,000 terrorists and security prisoners in Israel jails, many of them serving multiple life sentences for murder. Several of them already have been re-arrested for continuing terrorist activity.
Tags: Adnan ,Islamic Jihad ,Hamas ,Falk
More on this topic
Comment on this story
3. Att.General Dampens Nationalist Hopes for Outposts Team
by Gil Ronen
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has sent a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in which he informed him that he will not be bound by any recommendations made by the new "outposts team" that Netanyahu appointed.
According to Maariv, which reported on the letter Tuesday, Weinstein wrote:
"Let it be clear that the team's work will not, in itself, serve as a reason for changing an opinion submitted by the state to the court regarding the removal of illegally built structures. A decision about the need and justification for requesting a postponement of court session dates will be made by me, in each case according to its merits."
Maariv calls Weinstein's letter "a slap in the faces of the settlers" who hope that the "outposts team" will change the way the state's legal mechanism treats Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, in cases where there is a conflict with leftists and Arabs regarding land ownership.
The newspaper also diagnoses a power struggle within the Justice Ministry between Weinstein – who is both Attorney General and Legal Advisor to the Government, a combination considered a contradiction in terms by many legal experts – and the newly appointed outposts team.
The team is headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Edmond Levi – and nationalists hope it will undo the damage wreaked by the infamous Sasson Committee, which defined "illegal outposts" through an ultra-leftist prism.
Weinstein has already warned told the government that the outposts team will not be able to discuss homes that were built on private land and communities on which there is already a court ruling.
Comment on this story
by Gil Ronen
Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein has sent a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in which he informed him that he will not be bound by any recommendations made by the new "outposts team" that Netanyahu appointed.
According to Maariv, which reported on the letter Tuesday, Weinstein wrote:
"Let it be clear that the team's work will not, in itself, serve as a reason for changing an opinion submitted by the state to the court regarding the removal of illegally built structures. A decision about the need and justification for requesting a postponement of court session dates will be made by me, in each case according to its merits."
Maariv calls Weinstein's letter "a slap in the faces of the settlers" who hope that the "outposts team" will change the way the state's legal mechanism treats Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, in cases where there is a conflict with leftists and Arabs regarding land ownership.
The newspaper also diagnoses a power struggle within the Justice Ministry between Weinstein – who is both Attorney General and Legal Advisor to the Government, a combination considered a contradiction in terms by many legal experts – and the newly appointed outposts team.
The team is headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Edmond Levi – and nationalists hope it will undo the damage wreaked by the infamous Sasson Committee, which defined "illegal outposts" through an ultra-leftist prism.
Weinstein has already warned told the government that the outposts team will not be able to discuss homes that were built on private land and communities on which there is already a court ruling.
Tags: Yehudah Weinstein
More on this topic
Comment on this story
4. Muslims: Israel to Give Half of Al Aqsa to Jews
by Gil Ronen
The Al Aqsa Center has released a statement saying that it has received information that Israel plans to divide up the Temple Mount into separate Jewish and Muslim sections, in the same way that the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron is divided.
According to the statement, as reported by the Elder of Zion blog, Jews would then be able to perform "Talmudic rituals" (i.e., pray) in the sacred site.
The Al Aqsa report goes on to say that Israeli police plan to use the new arrangement to cleanse the Temple Mount of Muslims under flimsy pretexts.
According to another plan "revealed" by the Al Aqsa Center, Jews will freely enter the mosque between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m., between Muslim prayer times. These alleged plans will be implemented this year.
Dozens of Arab stoned Christian tourists and police on the Temple Mount Sunday morning, a day after a former Muslim Mufti warned of a possible “break-in” by Jews.
Elder of Zion notes, "There is only one reason why these rumors are started -- to keep Jews off of the holiest site in Judaism. They want to stir up riots because, according to these defenders of Islam, it is better than no one go to the Temple Mount than to allow Jewish 'filth' from 'desecrating' it.
"These incitements have worked in the past, so the Al Aqsa defenders will keep churning out the lies that Arab Muslims are more than happy to believe, fed by hateful terrorist-supporting media like Palestine Today."
Jews who ascend to the Temple Mount today are not even allowed to pray at this holiest site for Judaism, as it is considered an incendiary action that can provoke Muslim rioting.
Comment on this story
by Gil Ronen
The Al Aqsa Center has released a statement saying that it has received information that Israel plans to divide up the Temple Mount into separate Jewish and Muslim sections, in the same way that the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hevron is divided.
According to the statement, as reported by the Elder of Zion blog, Jews would then be able to perform "Talmudic rituals" (i.e., pray) in the sacred site.
The Al Aqsa report goes on to say that Israeli police plan to use the new arrangement to cleanse the Temple Mount of Muslims under flimsy pretexts.
According to another plan "revealed" by the Al Aqsa Center, Jews will freely enter the mosque between 8 a.m. and 11 a.m., between Muslim prayer times. These alleged plans will be implemented this year.
Dozens of Arab stoned Christian tourists and police on the Temple Mount Sunday morning, a day after a former Muslim Mufti warned of a possible “break-in” by Jews.
Elder of Zion notes, "There is only one reason why these rumors are started -- to keep Jews off of the holiest site in Judaism. They want to stir up riots because, according to these defenders of Islam, it is better than no one go to the Temple Mount than to allow Jewish 'filth' from 'desecrating' it.
"These incitements have worked in the past, so the Al Aqsa defenders will keep churning out the lies that Arab Muslims are more than happy to believe, fed by hateful terrorist-supporting media like Palestine Today."
Jews who ascend to the Temple Mount today are not even allowed to pray at this holiest site for Judaism, as it is considered an incendiary action that can provoke Muslim rioting.
Tags: Al Aqsa mosque ,Temple Mount
More on this topic
-
Arab Rioters Stone Temple Mount Tourists after Muslim Incitement
-
ZOA: Jews Cannot and Will Not Remain Silent
-
Police Close Temple Mount to Jews, Blame Feiglin
-
Muslims Claim Israel Planning to Build on Temple Mount
-
Hotovely Praises Supreme Court on Citizenship Law
-
Uniformed IDF Soldiers Visit Temple Mount
Comment on this story
5. IDF Says Ground Invasion in Gaza ‘Matter of Time’
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
It is only a “matter of time” before the IDF has to re-enter Gaza to control terror, IDF Chief of Benny Gantz warns, three years after the three-week Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign.
The IDF has carried out a consistent policy since several months after Cast Lead to retaliate after almost every terrorist attack on Israelis. Hamas and other terrorist groups, both allies and rivals, have carried out hundreds of rockets, missiles, mortar shells and sniping attacks since the end of Cast Lead in January 2009.
Israel has been operating on the basis of a “Negev roulette” policy, by which the military usually carries out a symbolic response to terrorist attacks that cause no physical injuries or serious property damage.
When damage is more severe, so is the response, even though most of the terrorist attacks are launched without guidance systems that can pinpoint targets. Gaza terrorists basically attack rural areas in the hopes of hitting human targets and know that if they hit a crowded urban center, there is more likelihood of a large-scale retaliation.
Last week, Be’er Sheva was targeted, but there were no physical injuries or major damage. Past experience has shown that Hamas strategically escalates its attacks to achieve a political end or when it thinks is will win media sympathy if it draws the IDF into a ground incursion not Gaza.
The IDF lost most of its ability to directly hit terrorists after the Sharon government expelled more than 9,000 Jews and ordered the withdrawal of all military presence from Gaza in the summer of 2005.
The “Disengagement” program ostensibly was aimed at removing any reason for Hamas to attack Israel, but the rocket strikes actually increased and struck deeper into central Israel until Cast Lead.
The military previously has said it is preparing for returning to Gaza, but Israel Defense suggested that next time around it might carry out a strategy of “divide and conquer” by dividing the region into several parts, effectively preventing Hamas from exercising control.
The terrorist organization is in the midst of returning to a unity government with the rival Fatah faction, headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas' “peace” with Hamas has weakened his support from the United States and may cost him European Union backing as well. If Hamas and Fatah complete their unity arrangement and rocket attacks on southern Israel continue, the return of the IDF to Gaza could have severe consequences for Abbas as well as Hamas.
Comment on this story
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
It is only a “matter of time” before the IDF has to re-enter Gaza to control terror, IDF Chief of Benny Gantz warns, three years after the three-week Operation Cast Lead counterterrorist campaign.
The IDF has carried out a consistent policy since several months after Cast Lead to retaliate after almost every terrorist attack on Israelis. Hamas and other terrorist groups, both allies and rivals, have carried out hundreds of rockets, missiles, mortar shells and sniping attacks since the end of Cast Lead in January 2009.
Israel has been operating on the basis of a “Negev roulette” policy, by which the military usually carries out a symbolic response to terrorist attacks that cause no physical injuries or serious property damage.
When damage is more severe, so is the response, even though most of the terrorist attacks are launched without guidance systems that can pinpoint targets. Gaza terrorists basically attack rural areas in the hopes of hitting human targets and know that if they hit a crowded urban center, there is more likelihood of a large-scale retaliation.
Last week, Be’er Sheva was targeted, but there were no physical injuries or major damage. Past experience has shown that Hamas strategically escalates its attacks to achieve a political end or when it thinks is will win media sympathy if it draws the IDF into a ground incursion not Gaza.
The IDF lost most of its ability to directly hit terrorists after the Sharon government expelled more than 9,000 Jews and ordered the withdrawal of all military presence from Gaza in the summer of 2005.
The “Disengagement” program ostensibly was aimed at removing any reason for Hamas to attack Israel, but the rocket strikes actually increased and struck deeper into central Israel until Cast Lead.
The military previously has said it is preparing for returning to Gaza, but Israel Defense suggested that next time around it might carry out a strategy of “divide and conquer” by dividing the region into several parts, effectively preventing Hamas from exercising control.
The terrorist organization is in the midst of returning to a unity government with the rival Fatah faction, headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
Abbas' “peace” with Hamas has weakened his support from the United States and may cost him European Union backing as well. If Hamas and Fatah complete their unity arrangement and rocket attacks on southern Israel continue, the return of the IDF to Gaza could have severe consequences for Abbas as well as Hamas.
Tags: Hamas ,Gaza ,Abbas ,Palestinian Authority
More on this topic
-
Media Turn Hunger Striking Terrorist Spokesman into Victim
-
Egypt Agrees to Implement Gaza Power Plan
-
Danon: Arab MKs Running Terror Hotline From Knesset
-
PA Rejects Maaleh Adumim, Gush Etzion as Israeli
-
No Fuel in Gaza, but Hamas Doesn't Want it from Israel
-
Palestinian Authority ‘Protector’ of Jewish Holy Sites?
Comment on this story
6. Netanyahu to Meet Obama on March 5
by Gavriel Queenann
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet with US President Barack Obama in Washington on March 5.
According to Obama's National Security Adviser Tom Donilon the two leaders will discuss the "full range of security issues of mutual concern."
Netanyahu will be in Washington to address the annual policy conference of the influential pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, which will be held on March 4-6.
Donilon just concluded three days of talks with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem amid escalating tensions over on Iran's nuclear program. He met with Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and others.
The White House described the talks as a reflection of the Obama administration's "unshakeable commitment to Israel's security."
However, officials in Israel and the US have been increasingly at odds on how to deal with Iran, which both - along with other Western nations and Gulf Arab states - say is seeking nuclear weapons.
Israeli officials are said to favor a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities saying the window for decisive action is closing as Iran "enters the immunity zone."
The Obama administration insists sanctions are having the desired effect and need more time.
Previously, Netanyahu publicly backed the White House led sanctions - but is said to have expressed reservations in closed-door sessions of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and defense committee.
However, last week Netanyahu openly said Western sanctions are "not working." The Prime Minister's change in public posture came after a series of terror attacks targeting Israeli diplomats in Asia, which he accused Iran of mounting.
His comments came shortly before Defense Intelligence Agency director Lieutenant General Ronald Burgess told US lawmakers Thursday "we assess that Tehran is not close to agreeing to abandon its nuclear program."
Critics of Obama's sanctions-only policy note that North Korea succeeded in detonating two nuclear weapons in secret tests despite crippling sanctions, and widespread poverty and starvation in the country.
The US has urged Israel not to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. Observers say recent leaks in the Obama administration appear to have been designed to hamstring an Israeli strike on Iran.
On January 31, Sen. Diane Feinstein leaked that Mossad chief Tamir Pardo was in Washington for secret talks on a possible Iran strike.
Then, just days later, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta revealed Israel's likely timetable for such an attack when he told reporters "a strong likelihood" that Israel would strike Iran in April, May or June,
US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey on Sunday said an attack on Iran is "not prudent."
Dempsey told CNN that Israel has the capability to strike Iran and delay the Iranians "probably for a couple of years. But some of the targets are probably beyond their reach."
However, proponents of Obama's policy note that the White House continues to say it needs more time, which an Israeli strike would almost certainly provide.
Dempsey also expressed concern that an Israeli attack could spark reprisals against US targets in the Gulf or Afghanistan, where American forces are based.
"That's the question with which we all wrestle. And the reason that we think that it's not prudent at this point to decide to attack Iran," Dempsey said.
However, senior Israeli officials in private conversations have expressed the belief that the White House desperately wants to avoid a spike in oil prices a strike might cause as the presidential elections looms on its political horizon.
The weak US economy has been in a holding pattern and Federal Reserve officials have frozen interest rates saying they do not expect recovery to begin until 2014.
British Foreign Minister William Hague told the BBC that London was convinced diplomacy was the only way to deal with Iran.
"I don't think a wise thing at this moment is for Israel to launch a military attack on Iran," he said. "I think Israel like everyone else in the world should be giving a real chance to the approach we have adopted on very serious economic sanctions and economic pressure and the readiness to negotiate with Iran."
Israeli analysts, however, say that what is "wise" for Israel may not be what is wise for Europe, stuck in the quagmire of a sovereign debt crisis, or the United States.
While Western capitals are primarily concerned with the economic impact a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities may have, officials in Jerusalem are primarily concerned with the potential impact of not attacking.
Iranian officials have repeatedly called for the Jewish state's destruction and have referred to Israel as a "one bomb state."
In Jerusalem, an Iranian nuclear weapon is an existential risk leaders have said they don't believe Israel can afford.
Comment on this story
by Gavriel Queenann
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will meet with US President Barack Obama in Washington on March 5.
According to Obama's National Security Adviser Tom Donilon the two leaders will discuss the "full range of security issues of mutual concern."
Netanyahu will be in Washington to address the annual policy conference of the influential pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, which will be held on March 4-6.
Donilon just concluded three days of talks with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem amid escalating tensions over on Iran's nuclear program. He met with Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and others.
The White House described the talks as a reflection of the Obama administration's "unshakeable commitment to Israel's security."
However, officials in Israel and the US have been increasingly at odds on how to deal with Iran, which both - along with other Western nations and Gulf Arab states - say is seeking nuclear weapons.
Israeli officials are said to favor a pre-emptive strike on Iran's nuclear facilities saying the window for decisive action is closing as Iran "enters the immunity zone."
The Obama administration insists sanctions are having the desired effect and need more time.
Previously, Netanyahu publicly backed the White House led sanctions - but is said to have expressed reservations in closed-door sessions of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and defense committee.
However, last week Netanyahu openly said Western sanctions are "not working." The Prime Minister's change in public posture came after a series of terror attacks targeting Israeli diplomats in Asia, which he accused Iran of mounting.
His comments came shortly before Defense Intelligence Agency director Lieutenant General Ronald Burgess told US lawmakers Thursday "we assess that Tehran is not close to agreeing to abandon its nuclear program."
Critics of Obama's sanctions-only policy note that North Korea succeeded in detonating two nuclear weapons in secret tests despite crippling sanctions, and widespread poverty and starvation in the country.
The US has urged Israel not to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. Observers say recent leaks in the Obama administration appear to have been designed to hamstring an Israeli strike on Iran.
On January 31, Sen. Diane Feinstein leaked that Mossad chief Tamir Pardo was in Washington for secret talks on a possible Iran strike.
Then, just days later, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta revealed Israel's likely timetable for such an attack when he told reporters "a strong likelihood" that Israel would strike Iran in April, May or June,
US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey on Sunday said an attack on Iran is "not prudent."
Dempsey told CNN that Israel has the capability to strike Iran and delay the Iranians "probably for a couple of years. But some of the targets are probably beyond their reach."
However, proponents of Obama's policy note that the White House continues to say it needs more time, which an Israeli strike would almost certainly provide.
Dempsey also expressed concern that an Israeli attack could spark reprisals against US targets in the Gulf or Afghanistan, where American forces are based.
"That's the question with which we all wrestle. And the reason that we think that it's not prudent at this point to decide to attack Iran," Dempsey said.
However, senior Israeli officials in private conversations have expressed the belief that the White House desperately wants to avoid a spike in oil prices a strike might cause as the presidential elections looms on its political horizon.
The weak US economy has been in a holding pattern and Federal Reserve officials have frozen interest rates saying they do not expect recovery to begin until 2014.
British Foreign Minister William Hague told the BBC that London was convinced diplomacy was the only way to deal with Iran.
"I don't think a wise thing at this moment is for Israel to launch a military attack on Iran," he said. "I think Israel like everyone else in the world should be giving a real chance to the approach we have adopted on very serious economic sanctions and economic pressure and the readiness to negotiate with Iran."
Israeli analysts, however, say that what is "wise" for Israel may not be what is wise for Europe, stuck in the quagmire of a sovereign debt crisis, or the United States.
While Western capitals are primarily concerned with the economic impact a strike on Iran's nuclear facilities may have, officials in Jerusalem are primarily concerned with the potential impact of not attacking.
Iranian officials have repeatedly called for the Jewish state's destruction and have referred to Israel as a "one bomb state."
In Jerusalem, an Iranian nuclear weapon is an existential risk leaders have said they don't believe Israel can afford.
Tags: Barack Obama ,Binyamin Netanyahy ,Israel ,US ,AIPAC ,Iran ,Iran Nuclear threat
More on this topic
-
Thailand Probing Link Between Terror Plot and Islamic Stickers
-
Mubarak's Wife Threatens Obama Over Husband's Imprisonment
-
Huckabee: No Republican Will Win Without Supporting Israel
-
Mubarak Prosecutor: Egyptian Violence Not Due to Israel or Iran
-
France Mocks, China Rebukes Iranian 'Oil Cuts'
-
Delhi Bombing Probe 'Going Nowhere'
Comment on this story
7. Rabbi Lau 'Greatly Pained' by Tel Aviv anti-Sabbath Vote
by Gil Ronen
The Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, Rav Yisrael Meir Lau, expressed "great pain" Tuesday with the decision by the Tel Aviv Municipality to operate public transport on Sabbaths.
"A feeling of deep disappointment and great pain engulfed me upon hearing the news that the Tel Aviv Yafo Municipal Council decided yesterday to recommend operation of public transport on Sabbath," he wrote Tuesday.
"This is a serious blow to the sanctity of the Sabbath that is a memorial to the Creation of the world, a memorial to the exodus from Egypt, a day of rest for all workers, and a day of spiritual uplifting and consolidation of the family.
"This recommendation is a blow to the history of the city that was founded 103 years ago… and the prominent people from its inception – like Meir Dizengoff, the first mayor; [Zionist visionary] Ehad Ha'Am and [national poet] Chaim Nachman Bialik did much for preservation of its character as a city in which the Sabbath will be honored in the public realm."
He added, "The City Council's recommendation from yesterday harms the status quo upon which the policy of the government of Israel has relied from the establishment of the state to this very day – that forbids operation of public transport on Sabbaths and Jewish holidays.
"Before the City Management discusses this recommendation, I ask the mayor, Ron Huldai, whose election was supported by thousands of Sabbath-keepers, please – reconsider and go back to the path of your predecessors, who did not allow the flame of the Sabbath to go out."
Rav Lau has asked the Interior Minister and Transport Minister to forbid this "serious breach."
Jewish Home Knesset faction chairman MK Uri Orbach reacted to the decision by saying: "Before Huldai announces, in a cheap provocation, the operation of public transport in Tel Aviv on Sabbaths, he should provide Tel Aviv with proper public transport on week days as well."
MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) called the decision "debased and populist."
"We will not enable this deliberately damaging blow to the status quo and the sanctity of the Sabbath in the state of Israel," he warned. "There is no value to the City Council's decision other than a stain on the municipality itself."
Mayor Huldai said, in the week before the vote, that “Israel is the only country in the world where public transportation does not operate a quarter of the year, when you take Shabbat and holidays into consideration. What is someone who cannot afford a car supposed to do if they want to visit their family or go to the beach on Shabbat?"
Meretz chairperson MK Zehava Galon appealed to the Attorney General and Legal Counsel to the Government, Yehuda Weinstein, after the Minister of Transport said he would turn down the Tel Aviv Municipality's request for a license to operate public transport on Sabbaths.
"The status quo on matters of religion and state has no legal validity and the refusal by the minister to grant a license will not stand the test of the High Court," she said.
Galon said that while the secular public will not force religious people to board buses on Shabbat, "the right of people who do not possess a private car to mobility on weekends should also be respected."
She added, "a person shall live according to his faith." This is a popular misquotation of the phrase "the righteous shall live by his faith," from Habakuk 2:4, which is often used to justify a pluralistic, laissez faire outlook.
Comment on this story
by Gil Ronen
The Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, Rav Yisrael Meir Lau, expressed "great pain" Tuesday with the decision by the Tel Aviv Municipality to operate public transport on Sabbaths.
"A feeling of deep disappointment and great pain engulfed me upon hearing the news that the Tel Aviv Yafo Municipal Council decided yesterday to recommend operation of public transport on Sabbath," he wrote Tuesday.
"This is a serious blow to the sanctity of the Sabbath that is a memorial to the Creation of the world, a memorial to the exodus from Egypt, a day of rest for all workers, and a day of spiritual uplifting and consolidation of the family.
"This recommendation is a blow to the history of the city that was founded 103 years ago… and the prominent people from its inception – like Meir Dizengoff, the first mayor; [Zionist visionary] Ehad Ha'Am and [national poet] Chaim Nachman Bialik did much for preservation of its character as a city in which the Sabbath will be honored in the public realm."
He added, "The City Council's recommendation from yesterday harms the status quo upon which the policy of the government of Israel has relied from the establishment of the state to this very day – that forbids operation of public transport on Sabbaths and Jewish holidays.
"Before the City Management discusses this recommendation, I ask the mayor, Ron Huldai, whose election was supported by thousands of Sabbath-keepers, please – reconsider and go back to the path of your predecessors, who did not allow the flame of the Sabbath to go out."
Rav Lau has asked the Interior Minister and Transport Minister to forbid this "serious breach."
Jewish Home Knesset faction chairman MK Uri Orbach reacted to the decision by saying: "Before Huldai announces, in a cheap provocation, the operation of public transport in Tel Aviv on Sabbaths, he should provide Tel Aviv with proper public transport on week days as well."
MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) called the decision "debased and populist."
"We will not enable this deliberately damaging blow to the status quo and the sanctity of the Sabbath in the state of Israel," he warned. "There is no value to the City Council's decision other than a stain on the municipality itself."
Mayor Huldai said, in the week before the vote, that “Israel is the only country in the world where public transportation does not operate a quarter of the year, when you take Shabbat and holidays into consideration. What is someone who cannot afford a car supposed to do if they want to visit their family or go to the beach on Shabbat?"
Meretz chairperson MK Zehava Galon appealed to the Attorney General and Legal Counsel to the Government, Yehuda Weinstein, after the Minister of Transport said he would turn down the Tel Aviv Municipality's request for a license to operate public transport on Sabbaths.
"The status quo on matters of religion and state has no legal validity and the refusal by the minister to grant a license will not stand the test of the High Court," she said.
Galon said that while the secular public will not force religious people to board buses on Shabbat, "the right of people who do not possess a private car to mobility on weekends should also be respected."
She added, "a person shall live according to his faith." This is a popular misquotation of the phrase "the righteous shall live by his faith," from Habakuk 2:4, which is often used to justify a pluralistic, laissez faire outlook.
Tags: Sabbath ,status quo ,Tel Aviv
More on this topic
Comment on this story
8. Tel Aviv Approves Public Transportation on Shabbat
by Elad Benari
Members of the Tel Aviv City Council - the first Jewish city built by Zionists - approved on Monday a proposal to operate public transportation on Shabbat, Channel 10 News reported.
The proposal was passed by a vote of 13 supporters against seven opponents. The proposal, which was presented by the Meretz party’s representative in city council, was supported by Mayor Ron Huldai.
The proposal calls on the Tel Aviv municipality to request approval from the Commissioner of Public Transportation in the Ministry of Transportation to run buses during Shabbat. City Administration is to prepare a plan that will be submitted for approval.
The Commissioner of Public Transportation is authorized by law to approve such requests in cases where they are deemed necessary, or in cases where the public transportation serves non-Jewish populations or there is a need to use public transportation for the purpose of arriving at a hospital during the Sabbath.
However, Channel 10 reported, the Ministry of Transportation has already stated that the use of public transportation on Shabbat was permitted only in certain cities and there it has no intention of changing the status quo in the case of Tel Aviv.
Tami Zandberg, the Meretz party’s representative in the Tel Aviv City Council, was unfazed by the Ministry’s comments and urged for the implementation of the move.
“This is an historic step for the secular public in Israel, and in Tel Aviv in particular,” Zandberg told Channel 10. "For years, the secular public is being held hostage by hareidi politicians who want to continue to restrict the freedom of movement of millions of people every week for 24 hours.”
She added that the status quo must match the current reality. “You cannot continue to live under an order dated more than 60 years ago,” she said.
The Shas party’s representative in the Tel Aviv City Council, Binyamin Babayof, criticized the move and told Arutz Sheva that it is outrageous. Babayof spoke to Arutz Sheva before the vote and before the proposal was approved.
“The proposal is an insult to the status quo,” Babayof said. “Currently there is no friction between religious and secular in Tel Aviv and such proposals do not improve things.”
He added that most of Tel Aviv’s citizens, secular or religious, want Shabbat to have a Jewish character to it, and that means no buses.
“We must maintain a Jewish identity on Shabbat,” he said. “First we start with buses, and then they'll call to open stores on Shabbat. They want us to be like the U.S.”
“I live in southern Tel Aviv, where the character of the Sabbath is certainly felt,” said Babayof. “That’s also true for the northern neighborhoods, although it might not seem like it. There are many traditionalists who live there. Out of 440 thousand residents in Tel Aviv, 80 percent are traditional. The members of Meretz are an insignificant minority who are trying to make headlines.”
Comment on this story
by Elad Benari
Members of the Tel Aviv City Council - the first Jewish city built by Zionists - approved on Monday a proposal to operate public transportation on Shabbat, Channel 10 News reported.
The proposal was passed by a vote of 13 supporters against seven opponents. The proposal, which was presented by the Meretz party’s representative in city council, was supported by Mayor Ron Huldai.
The proposal calls on the Tel Aviv municipality to request approval from the Commissioner of Public Transportation in the Ministry of Transportation to run buses during Shabbat. City Administration is to prepare a plan that will be submitted for approval.
The Commissioner of Public Transportation is authorized by law to approve such requests in cases where they are deemed necessary, or in cases where the public transportation serves non-Jewish populations or there is a need to use public transportation for the purpose of arriving at a hospital during the Sabbath.
However, Channel 10 reported, the Ministry of Transportation has already stated that the use of public transportation on Shabbat was permitted only in certain cities and there it has no intention of changing the status quo in the case of Tel Aviv.
Tami Zandberg, the Meretz party’s representative in the Tel Aviv City Council, was unfazed by the Ministry’s comments and urged for the implementation of the move.
“This is an historic step for the secular public in Israel, and in Tel Aviv in particular,” Zandberg told Channel 10. "For years, the secular public is being held hostage by hareidi politicians who want to continue to restrict the freedom of movement of millions of people every week for 24 hours.”
She added that the status quo must match the current reality. “You cannot continue to live under an order dated more than 60 years ago,” she said.
The Shas party’s representative in the Tel Aviv City Council, Binyamin Babayof, criticized the move and told Arutz Sheva that it is outrageous. Babayof spoke to Arutz Sheva before the vote and before the proposal was approved.
“The proposal is an insult to the status quo,” Babayof said. “Currently there is no friction between religious and secular in Tel Aviv and such proposals do not improve things.”
He added that most of Tel Aviv’s citizens, secular or religious, want Shabbat to have a Jewish character to it, and that means no buses.
“We must maintain a Jewish identity on Shabbat,” he said. “First we start with buses, and then they'll call to open stores on Shabbat. They want us to be like the U.S.”
“I live in southern Tel Aviv, where the character of the Sabbath is certainly felt,” said Babayof. “That’s also true for the northern neighborhoods, although it might not seem like it. There are many traditionalists who live there. Out of 440 thousand residents in Tel Aviv, 80 percent are traditional. The members of Meretz are an insignificant minority who are trying to make headlines.”
More on this topic
Comment on this story
More Website News:
 |
Thailand Probing Link Between Terror Plot and Islamic Stickers  |
|
|
Egypt Agrees to Implement Gaza Power Plan |
|
|
Twitter Apostasy Case Underscores Saudi Oppression |
|
|
Delhi Bombing Probe 'Going Nowhere' |
|
|
War? What War? Bloomberg Says Invest in Israel |
